The Town of Acton has its heart in the right place. Building more affordable housing, especially in Massachusetts, seems to be a worthy goal. But the decision by the Board of Selectmen and their supporters at Town Meeting to attempt to give away a valuable town asset, a vacant lot on River Street (worth about $200,000) to build one affordable housing unit, was ill-advised and poorly thought out.

$200,000 to create a single affordable housing unit is very expensive, and this money is coming out of the town assets, which is a lot to invest when there are so many pressing needs in town and we are already doing much to support affordable housing on a local level.

Furthermore, the process of approving this at Town Meeting on April 4, 2006, was flawed.

The original warrant article which gave the Selectmen the power to give away the property to Habitat for Humanity appeared to violate a state law against giving public monies or land to private charities.

When the Selectmen realized that their original warrant article may have been illegal, they scrapped the first motion and substituted a new motion for Town Meeting approval. This was done about 2 hours before Tuesday's Town Meeting session. Any objective observer would have to wonder "why the rush?" We've had this property for over 25 years and there was little reason to vote on a motion that was completely changed a couple of hours before the last night of Town Meeting. Groups like the Finance Committee were unable to discuss or vote on the new motion, which circumvented an important review step in our process of local government. The Selectmen could easily have taken this item off the agenda until the Fall Town Meeting which is being planned.

Whenever we discuss the need for more affordable housing in town, one of the justifications is that we must try to comply with state law. Affordable housing advocates point to a state mandate dictating that the minimum percentage of affordable housing in any community in Massachusetts should be 10% of the total housing stock.

Acton has lots of affordable housing; witness the many condominium complexes in town. But don't be fooled into thinking that Acton has achieved this 10% goal, because most of the condominium units scattered around town don't count. Houses must be deeded affordable to be counted, according to the state. By any reasonable measure, however, Acton has a high percentage of its housing stock as affordable right now. According to the 2000 census, 9.7% of Acton's owner-occupied units were valued at under $300,000. So compared to many nearby affluent communities, Acton is doing very well in providing a broad cross-section of housing costs and options. (Concord and Sudbury both had less than 5% of their housing stock under this same threshold in 2000.)

Nonetheless, housing activists continue to try to scare people into thinking something bad is going to happen if we don't attempt to build an affordable unit on every available parcel of land. But when pressed to describe the dire consequences of not meeting this unattainable 10% goal, nothing concrete is ever mentioned.

To advocate for more affordable housing only makes sense when one looks at the state of affordable housing in Acton, and what steps we are taking to improve our affordable-housing stock. But this is difficult to do because our town has no overall plan. There is no budget, no cap on spending, and no idea on how much we are spending each year or how much we should spend.

We know that a good percentage of our Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding is earmarked for affordable housing, and new 40-B developments must deed-restrict 25% of the homes built as affordable. We should also factor in that affordable homes pay lower taxes, which means higher taxes for the rest of us. This is a hidden, but significant, annual subsidy. In addition, the ACHC (Acton Community Housing Corp.) is currently developing three affordable-housing units on Willow Street. Based on all of this investment and activity, and without any overall plan in place, it seems to me that we are making very good progress and there is no need to spend another $200,000 of taxpayer money this year.

But the Selectmen disagree. Their plan was to give away a buildable lot on River Street (given to the town in 1980, before sewers made the lot valuable) to create one affordable unit, to be built by the private charity Habitat for Humanity.

When it was pointed out that giving a valuable asset to a private charity was against state law, the Selectmen came up with a way (abetted by Town Counsel) of planning strict deed restrictions on the property so it's value would be minimal, and then assisted Habitat in its acquisition by allowing it to make an official presentation at Town Meeting, even though it should have no particular advantage in developing the property.

Now that we know what the law says, the CPA grant to Habitat of $35,000 to help it build an affordable housing unit is also legally questionable.

In contrast, the ACHC will develop the property on Willow Street and will reimburse the town about $200,000 for back taxes and clean-up costs, and while some of these funds are coming from the CPA, CPA funds are part of what we have previously agreed to spend on affordable housing. If government money is going to be spent, ACHC seems a better local developer of affordable housing units than private charities in which the town has no control over the funding, fundraising, or homeowner selection.

There are also issues regarding separation of church and state when working with a group like Habitat for Humanity using tax dollars. But since the group no longer is the designated recipient of the property, we will save those arguments for a time if and when there is a public bidding process to develop the land.

But rather than spending $200,000 to build one affordable unit, here's another option. Sell the River Street property to a developer and generate money for the town which could be used for any purpose, not just affordable housing.

If we decide as a town that the number one goal is to build more affordable housing, then donate the proceeds of the sale to the ACHC to convert existing condo units into deeded affordable units (at a cost of about $50,000 per unit.) We could have four additional units counted instead of one, helping us reach our 10% goal faster (we will still never get there, but it's nice to pretend.)

But if we are doing enough now, then there are many other things the town could spend the $200,000 on which would directly benefit more residents. For example, there is a proposal to move the central fire station to North Acton. That will require a large investment and $200,000 might make a nice down-payment on that project. Another option is to spend money on needed capital expenses. Both the schools and town have a "capital planning list" a mile long.

And the many Habitat supporters can solicit a local landowner for a donation to support their cause. Isn't that how charities are supposed to work?

Updated 4/5/07

The Town of Acton recently sold the River Street property to Habitat for Humanity for $1. So I guess we are only spending $199,999 for one affordable housing unit.

There are good reasons why town funds should not be donated to private charities. I won't go into them now, but suffice it to say that selling a property worth $200,000 for $1 may be following the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law.

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